Concrete is emerging as a popular manufactured material for countertops, work surfaces, paver stones, etc., competing as an alternative to laminates and granite. Granite surfaces possess known weaknesses, e.g., edges easily chip, and such weaknesses may require the replacement of an entire area of a granite surface. Moreover, unless the replacement piece of granite is carefully selected, color matching to an older granite piece may be extremely difficult.
Concrete offers a variety of benefits that cannot be provided by granite. Concrete is less expensive to use than granite. Moreover, the batch to batch matching of color is easier to accomplish with concrete. Alternatively, the color of concrete surfaces can be matched by employing known coating processes.
Concrete surfaces are currently decorated by incorporating pigments or other colorants into the concrete mix before the concrete is applied or poured. This method can provide a colored surface, but is not capable of more intricate patterning or imaging. Formed or poured concrete surfaces are currently decorated by stains, tints and/or dyes applied by coating techniques including but not limited to wiping, brush coating and/or spray coating. Brush coating and spray coating can provide intricate patterns or images, but require careful application by an artisan. Patterns produced by artisans inherently are one-of-a-kind, thus the end customer cannot see the pattern or image until it is produced. Moreover, spray coating requires an optimum distance between the spray head and the surface to be coated, i.e., the appearance of the coating layer changes as the distance changes. Concrete presents a variety of characteristics which must be accounted for when coating its surface: irregular surface shapes such as corners; irregular surface textures, i.e., roughness; and, irregular initial surface coloring caused by the components that form the concrete.
In view of the foregoing, it is apparent that there is a need for systems and processes for decorating concrete surfaces with intricate patterning or images which can be pre-selected and approved by the end customer, and can be reproduced consistently should more than one copy of a pattern be desired. The present disclosure addresses such needs.